Retiring the Fleet

Looking 30 years back in a last day-and-a-half flurry of descent and landing:

A Dancin' We Will Go

Who says they don't have fun on the ISS?  Here's a clear example of the ISS crew members taking their shoes off and tearing up the dance floor:

Music brought you to by the following [from: http://www.barynya.com/mp3/index.stm]:

Elina Karokhina and ensemble Barynya "Balalaika Music Album"

Balalaika virtuoso Elina Karokhina & Russian dance and music ensemble Barynya compact disk Balalaika Music Album (2011). Elina Karokhina (balalaika), Leonid Bruk (balalaika-contrabass), Mikhail Smirnov (guitar, vocals). Elina Karokhina is Russia’s top balalaika player and a musician of international renown. Her speed, grace, and fluidity on the instrument must be seen and heard to believe. She began her formal training at the Mussorgsky College of St. Petersburg and continued her training at the Rimskii-Korsakov Conservatory, which included a residency in Germany. She returned to her native St. Petersburg, where she earned her Doctorate of Music/Balalaika...

SS Atlantis ascent/docking recap

For those who missed it, here's a recap of the last U.S. Space Shuttle blastoff and docking to the ISS with some bonus shots recapping the 30-year span of space shuttle missions:

Thus Endeth This Blog

The cowboy rolls up his knapsack/pup tent combo, slings it over his shoulder and steps into his rocket boots to pursue a lifelong dream.

Where he rides, there are no sunsets.

The path he takes is a lonely one, as usual.

It's always been about you, me, us, as usual, too.

He issues a voice command and off he goes.

"Giddyup, boy, let's get this show on the road!"

Whoooooosh!!!!

Power of the Sun

Solar Energy for the Masses.

Tick Season Has Started

A train to the Moon.  It's a ride the few and proud will enjoy, and many see.

Momcession

I ask myself if the future plots are doing any good.

For instance, which group made the decision to choose the person who will sing the U.S. National Anthem and stands as the image of America that we'll broadcast to the rest of the world at the beginning of the 2011 Super Bowl?

Did that group consider the full ramifications of that decision?

Although we account for those decisions in our 1000-year predictions, how can we effect change that moves the whole species in another direction, while preserving free will within individuals?

The species is just one supercomputer among many.

I need faster substitute supercomputers to plot iterations instantaneously.

What if the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the U.S. National Anthem?  Or the a capella group, Committed? What if the song was transposed for sitar or Irish bouzouki?

Time to run those scenarios through the supercomputer buried in the walls of my house and see what happens two years later.

I'll pass those results via the indecipherable method to colleagues who can recompute the deviations from the 10,000-year timeline to which we must adhere strictly and see if the possibility exists for one of those scenarios to occur.

How did my listening to Telemann's Oboe Concerto in e-minor, III-IV, affect my mood while writing this blog entry or SpaceX's chances for winning the ISS transport contract?

What did the movements of the swing dancers at Saturday night's Swing DJ contest do to the swing of stock prices on the Tokyo stock exchange this week?

Did the authenticity of a German pub atmosphere at Schnitzel Ranch change?

Is it time for a new brain implant?

How many law firms' efforts to sway public opinion in a positive direction for clients changed your opinions of self/society today?

Equipment Violations Should Be Repaired Immediately

If our DNA is a result of local phenomena, then does that mean civility is not universal?

I turn my gaze outward, away from subculture creation, interaction and destruction.

Now it is time to move this satire, this comedy, out of the muddied waters of what these words and style of writing imply is everyday living.

Filter out the local noise so I can observe that which cannot be spoken.

Using words and phrases to describe what we cannot see may give the impression to some the inquiring methodology of science and to others the affirmation of religion/faith.

I owe no allegiance to either or both.

I listen to echoes and I search passively.

I have to account for the limited combination of states of energy that is myself and my connections to other combos, including people, living things in general, nonliving natural things and artificial extensions of our senses like scientific instruments.

A wandering thought set will find a way to wander even when trapped.

I owe myself that much.

If I only detect the wisdom that is already known, will that be enough?

It will be a starting point.

Some days, it will feel like backtracking and going in circles.

The temptation to keep the images of madeup myths going will often be stronger than I believe I can resist.

These words are themselves evidence of my failure to resist.

But I consider it a strength, not a weakness, associated with the tools, my unique momentary mix of states of energy, available at my discretionary use any and all the time.

I am not alone in this comparatively sane exploration.

I have until 2050-05-06 to complete my investigation.

14,356 days (39.321 years and 10 leap days).

I will be interrupted constantly.

The same seven-plus billion who facilitate my work will hinder me, too.

The view from a single solar system is limited but until I tap other resources, it's what I have to work with.

Time to rewrite history as only I know it. Let the current illusions fade away.

Death to self-delusion is not death to self - live in the moment or look forward but don't get stuck in reiterating the past as an excuse to tread water with everyone else.

I'll start with the first testable theory/belief: I, who exists as a persistent illusion, am a body (a constantly-changing set of states of energy) in a universe which appears as a semispherical cocoon from the virtual center point of my place (with others) in this set of objects (dense collections of states of energy) we call a solar system.

This investigation will use the conventional viewpoint of the first person.

Wild-sounding conjectures will be put forward as fact that I or others may or may not be able to [dis]prove in a reasonable timeframe (say, within a few generations of my species).

Those who find and read these words may find the words perpetuate the zeitgeist hypnotic effect - I disclaim all responsibility for putting unintended thought patterns into motion.

However, such thought patterns may be used by me without giving credit or payment for them (that's the price you pay for living in my version of the universe).

Humour is the filter which keeps this from deteriorating into a series of serious blather.

Thus, every statement can be true and false at the same time.

Let it begin. <== Two spaces after the period because I want to buck modern convention.